So, you've just graduated college? Congratulations on your success, and welcome to the next step - finding your first job.

You’ve probably had some of the best years of your life. You’ve enjoyed making friends, socializing, exams, and going out on day trips. College years are incredible, but now you’re ready to hit full-time employment.

But leaving college isn’t always straightforward. In reality, the U.S. is in its most significant economic downtown in the past century, we’re still going through a brutal pandemic, and graduates are feeling deflated (we completely understand.)

Most people expect you to get a desk job after college. You’ve probably been told you should get a standard 9-5 office job, behind a desk, in a traditional industry - maybe law or healthcare?

If that sounds boring to you, we totally understand. And we’re here to tell you that it’s avoidable!

Tech sales can bring you everywhere now!

A technology sales career offers graduates an incredible opportunity to have a prosperous career in one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing industries. You can find excellent tech sales jobs throughout North America, including jobs in Vancouver, Toronto, and NYC.

• There are over 1.35 million technology start-ups around the world, so the worldwide opportunities are limitless!
• The United States has the world’s fastest biggest technology sector, accounting for over 32 percent of the world’s technology business, and it’s worth $1.7 trillion
• The tech industry will have a market value of $5 trillion by the end of 2021 despite the pandemic

Nobody really knows the true extent of the pandemic yet. But many economists have predicted The Great Resignation” where millions of Americans will quit their jobs in search of a different future. Furthermore, classical industries such as hospitality, retail, and travel will probably never be the same again.

Thankfully, the technology sector is here to stay, and here are some superb jobs for college graduates!

1 - Customer Success

The customer success area of technology sales is an excellent area to go into after graduation. Customer success managers support your customers as they make the transition from prospects to regular loyal customers.

They focus hard on growing a list of long-term clients that will affect the bottom line well into the future. Every business will need to unify its sales and support teams, and any customer success roles are crucial to ensure that happens. Moreover, customer success roles are often sales-driven roles. They will solve customer problems, but they’ll also expand customer accounts.

Customer success managers make an average of $75,000 per year, but this can rise depending on the company.

What skills and attributes do I need to work in customer success?

• Problem-solving skills
• Level headedness
• Excellent listening and communication skills
• You’ll need mental fortitude and a positive mindset to ensure you can resolve customer issues

2 - Sales engineer

A sales engineer sells complex and technical products to other businesses. You’ll need to know a lot about the products or services that you’re selling, but it can be one of the highly lucrative jobs for college graduates. Furthermore, your clients will often be technical staff who work for non-retail companies. That’s why you need extensive product knowledge.

Sales engineers will need to communicate with their fellow sales staff, communicate with team members from other departments, and work with product designers. In addition, sales engineers will have to attend trade shows, networking events, and conferences regularly.

Sales engineers make an average of $93,000 per year in the U.S, but that can rise up to $150,000+ with big companies.

What skills and attributes do I need to become a sales engineer?

• Sales engineers need strong technical knowledge
• The ability to work with large teams
• Resilience to handle rejection
• Problem-solving skills
• Analytical skills

3 - Account executive

An account executive sells services and products to clients. An essential requirement is to build positive relationships with clients and to search for new clients to build the business. Sales targets are prevalent in this role, so you’ll need to ensure you are driven and ready to succeed.

Furthermore, account executives will need to present costs to clients and present campaign ideas. In addition, account executives may need to pitch to new businesses and promote their businesses’ services at networking and industry events.

The average account executive in the United States earns $65,000 per year, but this will rise significantly with commissions. For example, many sales executives earn $22,500 extra in commissions.

What skills and attributes do I need to become an account executive?

• Excellent negotiation skills to communicate with clients
• The ability to show leadership and inspire others
• Being able to hit targets and finding the motivation to succeed
• You’ll need strong presentation skills

4 - Sales leadership

Do you see yourself as a bit of a leader?

If so, you might love roles in sales leadership. Sales leaders need to plan, organize, and coach. Planning is an integral part of a sales leader because you’ll need to set commission structures, payments, and training plans. Without adequate sales planning, it’s very challenging for a sales team to succeed. That’s why sales leadership jobs are so important.

Furthermore, you’ll need to organize hiring, retaining, and assigning tasks to people. Finally, you’ll have to ensure that you have the right people around you. Sometimes people don’t perform well, and it’s your job to find out why. You’ll need to improve the situation and offer guidance.

Sales leaders make an average of $62,000 per year, but this can rise depending on the company’s size, the industry, and the number of staff you lead.

What skills and attributes do I need to become a sales leader?

• Excellent listening skills
• The ability to motivate and lead people
• You need to be a firm and decisive decision-maker
• You need to be innovative and strategic

5 - Sales development

Sales development representatives focus on obtaining outbound customers for the business.

This job requires you to qualify leads at the start of the sales funnel before giving these leads to the deal makers and closers of the sales team. The position is entry-level, but it’s essential and a fantastic place for fresh graduates to learn about sales and the technology industry.

Sales development will need to conduct lots of research and use cold-calling techniques to obtain prospects. The role also requires building long-term relationships with clients and have product expertise depending on the sector.

The average sales development representative in the United States earns about $48,000 per year. The pay will rise with experience and time.

What skills do I need to work in sales development?

• Excellent customer service skills to deal with new customers
• Superb time management skills
• Great telephone etiquette
• You’ll need the ability to work with various sales platforms, including LinkedIn.

6 - Account manager

An account manager has an integral role in ensuring the company maintains solid and healthy relationships with its clients. The main goal of an account manager is to keep clients on for as long as possible. In addition, account managers need to generate sales across customer accounts. That may include cross-selling and up-selling products or services.

Furthermore, account managers will need to identify opportunities with existing clients that will grow the overall business. They’ll need to work with fellow staff members to ensure a consistent service. Plus, they’ll need to keep records of client transactions.

The average account manager earns $55,000 per year, but commission ranges from 2,000 to 3,700 per month for college grads.

What skills and attributes do I need to be an account manager?

• You’ll need excellent negotiation skills
• Solid leadership skills
• You’ll need to have excellent communication skills to handle customer issues or concerns
• You’ll need to be results orientated to drive sales and hit targets

7 - Sales operations

Sales operations look after a vast range of responsibilities and tasks. These include sales strategy, sales training, data handling, and lead management. However, another fundamental goal of any sales operations manager is to reduce all friction in the sales process. That means overseeing a smooth and effective sales process that enables the company to achieve maximum results.

Other tasks may include managing CRM data, performing sales forecasting, leading a sales team, and managing sales automation tools. If you love helping people and creating more efficient processes within a company, you’ll love working in sales operations.

The average salary of employees working in sales operations is $70,000, but that increases if you’re a VP of sales operations, etc.

What skills and attributes do I need to work in sales operations?

• You’ll need excellent problem-solving skills to fix issues in the process
• You’ll need to have a strong understanding of the sales process
• Organization skills are imperative if you’re going to succeed in sales operations
• You’ll need strong communication skills to direct the sales team

Learn more about the sales process and sales careers

So, you’re thinking of having a career in technology sales? It’s a tremendous opportunity, and the Uvaro courses will give you the soft skills you need to excel after you leave college.

You’ll learn from the best minds in the sales industry, you’ll get expert career guidance, and you’ll learn every bit of selling and prospecting. Once you’ve finished the course, you’ll have a careers advisor helping you land one of the excellent sales jobs with companies we work alongside.

Feel free to get in touch with us. We would love to give you more information and maybe even discuss your future in sales!